Abbas al-Yunkari
Abbas al-Yunkari is a character in Book 1 and 2. A highborn Ghiscari and head of his own small house, he is a ruthless and cunning slaver. Together with his partner Bakr, Abbas has expanded his business to Westeros, where he found himself surprisingly in service of the Burned Man, himself a former slave. Background Abbas hails from the House of Prezn, a lesser noble family of Yunkai, belonging to the Wise Masters, the ruling class of the city. The only child of his parents to survive infancy, the young Abbas was doted on and grew up with love, with his parents leaving him free to pursue the path in live he wanted to take. Unlike many other nobles of Yunkai, Abbas' interest in slavery was marginal at the best, with him barely caring for the riches his family could get through slave trade. He himself was more interested in the fine arts, becoming an acknowledged painter, with him actively studying the different art styles in the known world, spending a small fortune on acquiring works from as far as Westeros to the west and Yi Ti to the east. He was known as a dreamer and artist, a far cry from the harsh reputation his family usually had. However, things changed one day, when a slave rebellion in his father's household broke out. Led by the slave Janae, his former lover, who had recently been freed by the foreign sellsword John Gutten, vengeful slaves, pit fighters and household workers alike, stormed the mansion, rioted in the streets and caused a bloodbath. Abbas' father was murdered by Janae, with the young Abbas just barely escaping. He was a changed man from this day forward. Shaving his hair short, Abbas picked up the remnants of his families slave trade, becoming a slaver himself and discovering a darker side of his, one that enjoyed hunting down escaped slaves. By chance, he met the fellow slaver Bakr mo Azar, from the city of Astapor and formed a lucrative partnership with him. Using Bakr's strength and his own cunning, the two became a highly successful duo in the slave trade. Over time, Abbas and Bakr even became friends, saving each others life countless of times. Rebuilding his ruined house from scratch, Abbas soon set his eyes westwards, always in the hope to find the slave that killed his father. He eventually got into contact with a crimelord from the city of Oldtown in Westeros, the Burned Man, who proposed an unusual deal. Instead of capturing slaves, Abbas was supposed to buy them and bring them to Westeros, where the Burned Man would buy them off him for a better prize, then free them to incorporate them into his criminal empire. Given the lucrative nature of their deal, Abbas never questioned this unusual task and in time became ironically more known for selling slaves into freedom than to actually capture them. Book 1 Dark Wings, Dark Words Abbas is first encountered in the story by the hedge knight Jaron, who had recently arrived in Oldtown. On his way initial meeting with the Burned Man, he meets Abbas, who once again had business with the crimelord. Alongside Bakr, he had travelled to Oldtown to sell a new group of slaves. Bewildered by the presence of a genuine knight in the underworld of the crime-plagued city, Abbas introduces himself briefly, before going his way. We Write History As it turns out, the two slavers do more for the Burned Man than just selling slaves. During their stay in Oldtown, both became enforcers of the crimelord, using their notable combat skills to further his goals. This was shown when they arrive at the Pale Princess, a Braavosi merchant's ship in the harbour of Oldtown, to save the young orphan Ellena Terys from being captured by two sellswords in service of the rival crimelord Butterfly, Samuel Harrington and Jaylon Gordus. Intimidating them into submission, they force the duo to retreat. Afterwards, Abbas gives Ellena an offer from the Burned Man, who wishes to meet her. They are to escort her to his mansion, where she would have a talk with him, something the girl initially is wary of. However, Abbas manages to convince her that only the Burned Man could protect her from the wrath of Butterfly. Butterfly Escorting her to the Burned Man's mansion, Abbas gets into a brief conversation with Ellena. Displaying his rather twisted sense of humour, he scares the girl by telling her about the Burned Man's bloody backstory and the reason for his disfigurement. As a result, he leaves a very bad impression on her. At the door to the mansion, the two are greeted by Harpy, the Burned Man's handmaiden, who shows a similar dislike of the yunkish slaver. Towards the end of the chapter, Abbas and Bakr are part of the group led by Martin Wilshere, with intention to save Jaron, Harpy and Robb from the crimelord Butterfly. Surrounding the man in a warehouse, Abbas and Bakr enter the building through a backdoor, where they participate in the fight against the remnants of Butterfly's men. The Iron Price After the defeat of the man they thought to be Butterfly, Abbas does not join the festivities, unlike his friend Bakr. Instead, he retreats to another room of the mansion, together with the Burned Man and Ayden Blackwell, with whom he plans on how to defeat the remnants of the Solvers. It is uncovered that the Tom, Butterfly's highest-ranking underling, has taken control over what was left of the group and the Burned Man speculates that his goal was to create as much chaos as possible. Later this evening, Abbas interrupts Jaron while the hedge knight was about to confess his feelings to Harpy. Though he quickly realizes what situation he had gotten into, he remains for longer than necessary, making a few inappropriate jokes, much to Harpy's anger. After she threatens to outright throw him out, he gave in, leaving the two lovers alone, albeit with genuine gratulations for their newfound fortune. Valar Morghulis Inbetween the chapters, Abbas is approached by an old acquaintance of his, the former assassin Terroma, whom had once saved Abbas' life. Out of obligation, Abbas agrees to help him in his goal, which sees them chasing after the Red Priestess Noelle Mield and her guard Marak, to save the captured Ellena Terys, a journey that would take them through half of the kingdom. He is accompanied by Terroma's pupil Raenna Minsworth, as well as the sellswords Brandon Snow and Ando Pyre and the young girl Briar Catelins. During their journey, Abbas gets into conflict with Brandon, who shows great distrust towards him, though befriends Ando and eventually proves himself while saving Raenna from a fire. This action doesn't help much with improving her opinion on him, but it causes her to see him with newfound respect. His help later proves to be invaluable when he uses his tracking skills to find the camp of Noelle and Marak. He participates in the fight against the witch, but is quickly taken out by her fire magic, rendering him useless for the battle and helpless to watch as Terroma falls to his death. Afterwards, he sends Bakr to retrieve the man's body, showing a genuine respect for him. Though his employer is dead, he nonetheless sees through that Raenna and her companions would safely arrive in Raylansfair. What Is Dead May Never Die Shortly after their arrival in Raylansfair, Abbas and Bakr leave Raenna and her companions to escape the city under siege. However, on their way out, they help the defenders with their fight against the Second Sons that have recently broken through one of the gates. It is there that Abbas encounters a figure from his past. Janae, the woman that killed his father and almost himself as well, is there, defending the city alongside the Gutters. While it takes her a moment to recognize him, he realizes whom he has before him almost immediately and something inside of him snaps. Before she is able to do something, he restrains her with his whip. The only of her companions nearby, the young Behara Keys, tries to rush to her defense, but was taken captive as well. The slaver, now unhinged and confronted with his dark past, makes his way out of the city. By chance, he encounters Ellena and Ando, who are similarly trying to get out. Playing up to the young man's sympathy for him, he gets him to drop his guard, before violently slashing his throat, in an attempt to capture Ellena as well. However, she escapes him and disgruntled, Abbas breaks off the chase, preferring to secure Janae and Behara, whom he and Bakr then bring out of the city in chains. Valar Dohaeris After a week of travel, the two slavers return to Oldtown with their captives. However, Abbas has slowly lost his cool and professional manners, deciding that he deserves a greater prize after the effort he undertook. He travels to the Burned Man's mansion and on the way, he learns of the crimelords death at the hands of Maron Mullendore. Gleeful about this, Abbas realizes this would grant him the freedom to take back a truly lucrative captive to his home in Yunkai. And so, Abbas approaches Harpy, knowing of her history with Razdal zo Yunzak, one of Yunkai's most powerful masters. The young woman, initially oblivious to his intention, allows him to come closer, though she knows better than to let down her guard. As such, she manages to strike with a hidden knife at him, slashing him over the face after realizing his intention to bring her back to the master she escaped from. Abbas suffers a deep cut on his cheek, though he restrains her and knocks her out. Ordering Bakr to carry the unconscious girl back to the ship, he and his captives leave Westeros at last, with their goal being his home city of Yunkai. Book 2 Thorns During their journey back from Oldtown, Abbas and Bakr make a brief stop in Lys, where they hire two guards for the rest of their trip back to Yunkai, the sellswords Ryder Harrington and Haar. Their stay in Lys is not long though and they end up leaving soon, travelling to Volantis. However, Abbas is planning to trick those who chase after him. Instead of taking the direct route to Yunkai over Volantis, he leaves the open sea for the Rhoyne soon, taking a detour to visit an old friend, who is supposed to help him with hiding his tracks. On their way up the Rhoyne, he gets into a talk with Janae, explaining how he ended up as the ruthless slaver he is today, with both expressing regret at how their paths have changed since their early days, where they had briefly even been lovers. Appearance Abbas is a tall man and quite well-toned, even if he usually seems small and scrawny when standing next to his hulking companion Bakr. He has the dark tan of the Ghiscari and displays it freely, being proud of his heritage. While away, he wears practical leather armour, fabriced in the fashion of the Yunkish, while armed with two arakhs, the cavalry swords of the Dothraki, as well as a whip. Before the death of his father, Abbas wore his hair long, flowing down to his shoulders. However, he has since switched to a more practical haircut, cutting them very short. He has also grown a bear, which he maintains very well, always keeping it short, yet thick and full. His eyes are dark, even darker than his hair, and piercing Personality Once, many years ago, Abbas was a poet, painter and dreamer, a man who was soft-spoken and kind. Out of these traits, only his soft voice remains. The death of his father changed him, to the point where he became cold and calculating, as well as capable of harsh actions. He is known for being a very intelligent man, something he takes a lot of pride in. Despite his occupation as a slaver, he is polite, affable even to those he captures, unless he has a personal grudge against them. He is also capable of showing loyalty to those he feels obliged to and is, in a certain way, brave and not unwilling to put himself in danger. Abbas is also an arrogant man, with a terrible sense of timing and humour, which makes it hard to get along with him, despite the affability and sense of loyalty. However, his darkest trait are the anger issues that plague him when confronted with his past, fits of rage that cause him to act unreasonably and violent against anyone he perceives a threat. In these moments, Abbas even shows cruelty befitting of a Wise Master of Yunkai. Relationships Bakr al-Astapori Abbas and Bakr have a relationship that goes back for many years. Meeting each other by chance, it was Abbas who realized that Bakr's brute strength and naive mind perfectly worked together with his own cunning. He proposed a partnership, something Bakr gladly accepted. Though starting off strictly professional, the other slaver came to like Abbas, eventually considering him his best friend. While Abbas was a bit less ready to accept such friendship in his life, he begrudgingly came to consider the feeling mutual, even if he never outright stated Bakr to be his friend. Becoming more than business partners, they formed a genuine bond of friendship and support, one that brought out the best in Abbas. Janae Between Abbas and his former family slave Janae exists a complicated relationship. Once upon a time, when she was his father's slave, Abbas treated Janae with kindness, making him one of the few people in Yunkai she remembers with fondness. In time, they grew closer and een became lovers, with Abbas having genuine feelings towards her. However, after murdering his father while attempting to escape, Janae inevitably ruined their friendship, as her action broke Abbas. He is blaming her for any misfortune that has fallen upon his family, to the point of being unreasonable even. After encountering her once more, he does not hesitate to subude and capture her, proving that he intends to take his vengeance on her. Generally, he is bitter and hateful towards her. Jaron Jaron and Abbas had an uneasy work relationship. The somewhat creepy Ghiscari never left a good impression on him, even if Jaron was thankful for his assistance in the fight against Butterfly. Unlike Bakr and Jaron, the two never grew close, always keeping their distance unless forced to work together. However, this relationship soured even more when Abbas abducted Harpy, making Jaron his mortal enemy in the process, something he, while not actively seeking for, at least accepted. Harpy Due to her history with yunkish slavers, Harpy never warmed up to Abbas. In fact, she always hated him for his occupation, something he never tried to prove her wrong of, even if the feeling is not mutual. Abbas has a slight respect for Harpy, albeit his business interests always come first for him. As such, he decided to abduct her after the Burned Man's death, with intentions of selling her to Razdal zo Yunzak, a move that clearly caused them to be enemies. The Burned Man Unusually for a slaver, Abbas' main employer was the former slave Arkan Gorys, better known as the Burned Man. The crimelord never had any warmth for Abbas, seeing him as a tool, albeit a useful and well-paid one. In return, Abbas was very loyal to the Burned Man, even fighting his enemies and generally doing things that go way beyond a mere supplier. Being a yunkish nobleman, he is familiar with the Burned Man's backstory and more ready to share it than the crimelord himself is comfortable with. In the end, it was shown that any feeling of loyalty quickly faded after the crimelords' death, where Abbas took his adopted daughter Harpy as his captive, with intention of selling her back to their old master. Raenna Minsworth Unlike her mentor, who had a begrudging respect for Abbas and his talents, Raenna had an instant dislike of the man, something that was apparently mutual. Abbas nonetheless was unfailingly polite, if distant to the young woman. Ultimately, he saved her life when she nearly threw herself into a fire to save what she believed to be the remains of Ellena Terys. It was this action that gave her a somewhat more positive impression of him, though their relationship remained mostly cold. Terroma Abbas and Terroma have met each other many years ago. Though having opposing philosophies and certainly not considering each other friends by any means, they have a certain respect for each other. Once during his long career, Terroma saved Abbas' life, a fact the Ghiscari remembered even many years later, where they met each other again in the city of Oldtown. Staying true to the life debt he had, Abbas was willing to abandon the operations in Oldtown to help Terroma out, showing that he is genuinely grateful for the favour he was given. Appearances Category:Characters Category:Book 1 Characters Category:Book 2 Characters Category:Characters from Essos Category:Ghiscari Category:Yunkai Category:Oldtown Category:Highborn Category:Slavers